The company has not yet named the successor to McDonald who joined the India subsidiary in January 1995, according to SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals India director (HRD) N Ahmedali. It is learnt that McDonald had already informed the domestic financial institutions and his employees about his plan to move home.

According to a letter sent on June 30, 1999, to his employees at the manufacturing facility here, McDonald said: ``After joining the India subsidiary in 1995, this is the right time to call it a day. The decision on the new managing director will be taken soon by our parent company.''

The company's new corporate office on Cunningham Road (Bangalore) is awaiting the arrival of the new chief. SmithKlineBeecham Pharmaceuticals is shifting its corporate office to Cunningham Road from Devanahally plant shortly. Parent SmithKline Beecham's chairman is also expected to come to India next week to attend the inaugural function.

Though the exact reasons behind McDonald's exit are open to conjecture, it is learnt that he has done a very good job over the past five years. During his tenure, McDonald created a potential market for SmithKline Beecham products, both in India and abroad.

However, the company had reported a 28.15 per cent fall in its net profit during the quarter ended March 1999. It posted a net profit of Rs 7.98 crore (Rs 11.08 crore) during the period. The bottomline of the company was adversly affected by the devaluation in the rupee, competitive pressure resulting in lower prices and additional promotion expenses on its new products.

The main responsibilities of McDonald included the setting up of the new corporate office in the city, leaving the additional space in its Banglaore plant forfurther expansions. In addition to this, the company had settled the wage issues in its Bangalore and Mysore plants.

Now the company is aiming for a 100 per cent growth in exports to take the figure to Rs 20 crore from last year's Rs 10 crore. SmithKline Beecham has also embarked on a capacity upgradation plan in the country.

The company, in assocition with Medriac Sterilab is also setting up an antibiotic drug manufacturing facility for `Augmentin' near Bangalore. While the foreign pharma giant would offer technologies and market the products, the Bangalore-based Medriac Sterilab is investing about Rs 15 crore for the unit. The company sees a Rs 38 crore market in the country for Augmentin.

``SmithKline Beecham Pharma is launching four drugs during the year aiming a productivity growth of 7 per cent per annum. The company is planning to inject Rs 5 crore for upgrading its formulation facility in Mysore and analytical laboratories in Bangalore,'' a top official said.

The company was planning to set upan additional facility for manufacturing Avandia - a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes - in the country. The company is in the process of applying for the exclusive marketing rights (EMR) in India. The company targets a total sale of $2-3 billion worldwide from Avandia for which SmithKline had received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.